1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an electronic still video camera and in particular to an improved electronic still camera which converts a still picture of an object or scene into an operator selectable compressed digital signal format for storage utilizing a compression/decompression algorithm, such as the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) algorithm standard for example, formatted into Personal Computer (PC) compatible format retaining the images"" color information, and stored on a PC compatible memory diskette. For example, the diskette can be a three and a half (3xc2xd) inch digital diskette. The digital diskette is removeable from the electronic camera for direct insertion into a PC which contains the previously loaded corresponding decompression algorithm whereby the digital image is in a format compatible for immediate use with word processing, desk top publishing, data base, and multi-media applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing structure of a conventional prior art electronic still camera system, in which a CCD image sensor element 1a converts a still image of an object into an analog color video signal when the shutter control circuitry 2a is activated. The output color video signal of the image sensor element is then routed to the signal processing subsystem 3a where the signal is converted to National Television System Committee (NTSC) or other composite video formats (such as the European video standard Phase Alternating Line-PAL) and logged in analog format onto a mass memory storage device such-as an analog video floppy disk, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), analog audio cassette, bubble memory, or other storage device 5a. Power is supplied by a rechargeable/removeable battery system 4a. 
An electronic camera that converts an image into electronic image signals and transferred to a memory storage device is disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,131,919; 4,456,931; 4,758,883; 4,803,554; and 4,837,628.
Conventional prior art electronic still cameras, for example of the types disclosed in the aforementioned references, produce an electronic signal corresponding to a desired image in analog format such as the National Television System Committee (NTSC) or similar on magnetic or electronic storage media for either permanent or temporary storage to facilitate viewing on a television or video monitor. With the current state of the art, it is expensive and time consuming to convert the analog image equivalent to a digital format for direct utilization with PC software applications. Currently, to convert an image captured on an electronic still camera to a PC compatible format one must convert the signal back to either a composite-NTSC or ROB video signal and use a conversion device such as a xe2x80x9cframe grabberxe2x80x9d (a digital circuit board installed into PCs that convert video images into PC compatible formats) of the type sold commercially by Aapps Corporation, Orange Micro, RasterOps, and others or convert the image to a hard-copy print (a photograph) and utilize an electronic xe2x80x9cscannerxe2x80x9d, a piece of equipment that connects to a PC, which converts an image into a digital format. The later technique is employed extensively within the desktop publishing industry.
It is the object of this invention to provide an improved electronic still camera with operator selectable picture compression in one of a plurality of operator selectable digital data formats recordable on a standard removeable magnetic diskette common to personal computers.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved electronic still camera that provides digital image files for immediate and direct incorporation into popular word processing, desktop publishing, and other software programs on PCs.
It is another object of this invention is to provide an improved electronic still camera that, under user selection, can record and store still images selectively compressed in a directly insertable digital memory storage device into a PC in either color or black and white formats thus facilitating storage of a large number of images with the signal flag indicating the degree of compression selected by the operator as well as the color/black and white mode selection being stored as digital values on the digital memory storage device with each image frame.
An additional object of this invention to provide an electronic still camera device that can rapidly capture a series of images automatically as well as singularly. Also, this camera provides multiple outputs in both video format for monitor and display of images and digital formats to facilitate data transmission, additional processing, or storage to a variety of storage media.
It is still another object of this invention is to provide a more efficient electronic still camera that can take a still picture with operator selectable high, medium, or low resolution in either color or black and white by electronic shutter and exposure control by utilizing a variety of electro-optical sensors including Charge Coupled Devices (CCD), Infrared (IR), and Ultra Violet (UV) which can be directly or remotely controlled by analog, digital, or radio frequency (RF) control signals.
A further object of this invention is to provide a programmable video picture translator device for efficiently converting electronic still images in analog composite video format into digital data format readable by a PC. This translator device also provides additional video inputs and outputs for capturing video images, monitoring video images on monitors and displays, and can transmit either compressed or unprocessed digital image data through a variety of output I/O channels in various formats such as serial, parallel, etc. Also, this invention can incorporate sound/voice with images thru additional interface circuitry and audio digitizers.
Finally, it is the object of this invention to provide an electronic still camera that is efficient in design and permits extended periods of portable operation and which provides the user with operational status through the use of continuous internal self-test software routines and operator displays.